The Post: Operations Director & Producer, Ambertail Games
The Post Holder: Caolan McKendry
Gaining work experience and making contacts has been crucial in Caolan McKendry’s career.
Give a brief outline of your career to date.
I got my start at the age of 15 doing freelance web design and marketing for local businesses. This morphed into helping local game developers like Whitepot Studios with their community management and Bellular Studios with their marketing for the game The Pale Beyond. Early in my career I had my heart set on working in software engineering, but the degree I was studying in Computer Science had been dragging on. Instead, I restarted the NI Game Developer Network which is a community of country-wide game makers who support each other with networking events, demo days, and our ever-popular annual Global Game Jam. I’ve also had various other side projects ticking along at the same time – mainly being a mentor and trustee of NI Raspberry Jam (Northern Ireland’s largest regular STEM education event for kids) and briefly creating teaching content for the Minecraft Education Edition. What can I say? I like to keep busy!
All of this and more are what led the Ambertail Games founders Jordan Bradley and Noel Watters to scout me to lead their production and community management. As the three of us grew the company, my role became that of an Operations Director and Producer and our team bloomed from three full-time staff to 10, plus an international cast of freelancers who helped us ship our first ever game, Amber Isle. Recently I’ve become a company director, where I oversee management of the business as we continue to grow and seek out our new horizons.
What was your favourite subject at school?
I’ve been a Computer Science kid for as long as I can remember.
Did you go on to further/higher education, if so what did you study and where?
Let’s say there was an attempt at university! I went to Queen’s University Belfast to study Computer Science at the height of Covid and was stuck learning in my uni halls, burned out and isolated. Losing the practical quality of the learning in lectures and realising I cared more about games than software was the final nail in the coffin for my university ambitions.
How did you get into your area of work?
Things have a way of snowballing via word of mouth and recommendations from previous employers and clients.
Is this what you always wanted to do?
Yes and no. When you’re young you don’t really have all the words to articulate what it is you want to be, especially when it comes to more technical roles. I always thought that was software development and programming, but really what I wanted was to work in a technical profession where I make cool stuff.
Were there any particular essential qualifications or experience needed? Are there alternative routes into the job?
If anything, I’ve proven there’s plenty of alternative routes into the job! There’s no particular qualifications or experience needed, but getting experience working on projects or jobs (no matter what they might be!) was paramount for me in establishing myself in the field and community and learning as I went. In my experience, games companies aren’t hard set on degrees – they care mostly about your portfolio of work and your demonstrable examples.
What are the main personal skills your job requires?
It’s a lot of personal skills. Being adaptable and malleable to the situations you find yourself in takes you a long way. Communicating, organising, and a keen eye for detail also helps ease pain points in the long run. More than any of that though is passion.
Why is what you do important?
We’ve been fortunate to be able to create 10 full-time jobs, with plans to continue growing over the coming months. Ambertail only functions because we’re a place where our employees are treated right, their time is respected, and their passion is nurtured, something that the team have not always had in their previous employment.
What advice would you give anyone looking to follow a similar career path?
Work on things you love.
What is the one piece of advice you would give to yourself on your first day?
Chill out! Don’t get so bogged down with work and stress that you forget yourself.
And finally, what’s the key to any successful job search?
Grit, good resourcing, good connections, and curiosity!
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